POLITICAL ECONOMY: Measuring Upward Mobility; Professor Garance GENICOT (Georgetown University)

Abstract

We develop a measure of upward mobility that combines relative and absolute approaches to measuring mobility. The core of our approach is the Growth Progressivity Axiom: transfers of instantaneous growth rates from relatively rich to poor individuals increases upward mobility. This axiom, along with other auxiliary restrictions, identifies a one-parameter family of upward mobility measures, linear in individual growth rates, with geometrically declining weights on baseline incomes. Our axiomatized measure does not rely on panel data, thereby expanding our analytical scope to data-poor settings.

Click here to view paper.